REDMOND — Faced with rooms too small to accommodate 6-foot social distancing required by COVID-19 rules for 12-person juries in the Bend courthouse, the Deschutes County Circuit Court has set up a courtroom in the North Sister building of the Deschutes County fairgrounds.

Since March, the circuit court has only been able to hold misdemeanor trials with six-member juries, said Jeff Hall, trial court administrator for the Deschutes County Circuit Court. That is changing this week, as the court holds its first civil trial in the new space.

The North Sister building has undergone a few changes to meet the needs of the court, said Hall, including adding white noise machines to the jury deliberation room, having the sheriff’s office install a metal detector in the entrance, and putting down sections of carpet to help manage sound in the large area that usually handles ag-related events.

It was Judge Wells Ashby’s idea to set up a courtroom in one of the buildings at the fairgrounds, said Hall. “So we met with county leadership and they were all over it.”

Side rooms in the building provide a small office for the district attorney, an attorney-client council room for the defense, and — most importantly — a jury deliberation room large enough to accommodate a full table for each juror.

The circuit court has been “moving at full speed,” said Judge Ashby, after having to “reimagine” how to operate under public health guidelines. The court has had only about eight misdemeanor jury trials since March, which the judge attributes to using different approaches to resolve cases and avoid a backlog.

“The DA’s office and the defense bar has worked very hard to resolve cases,” said the judge. “We’ve also brought in retired senior judges to serve as settlement judges in criminal cases and they’ve been very successful.”

“Even though we do many things remotely,” he said, “we don’t do jury trials remotely. So the question is how to have a court function and keep people safe.”

The downtown courtroom has had two rooms remodeled to provide more space for social distancing, said Hall, but they barely provide the minimum space for a 12-person jury, which would be very confining for a long trial.

The new courtroom at the fairgrounds “increases our ability to safely conduct jury trials,” said Ashby. It was a partnership of Deschutes County services including the county commission, the sheriff’s office and the fair and expo center, as well as the Deschutes County Bar Association, he said.

“We are fortunate to have quality stakeholders, great relationships to make this happen,” said the judge.

The change has many upsides, he said. “The nice thing is, everybody knows where the fairgrounds is. It’s accessible from the parkway, the parking is great, the facility is fantastic. I think we’re blessed in this county to have it, so what we did is ask to use it — and of course we got a yes on that,” said Ashby.

The judge said he is confident of success in the new space. “I think this will serve our community until we return to a more normal public health footprint.”